ARTIST NEWS

Ten Notable Classical-Music Recordings of 2012

According to ancient custom, I’m making two end-of-year lists for the magazine, one of live performances and the other of recordings. Lest I neglect events still to come in December—David Lang’s “love fail” and Michael Gordon’s “Timber” at BAM, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra’s performances at Carnegie, and the JACK Quartet’s “Modern Medieval” program at the Met Museum, among others—I’ll withhold the “live” list until the end of the month. Here, though, is a selection of notable classical releases from 2012, which may be of assistance as you seek the perfect gift for your decadent niece who worships Wagner. A few audio and video samples are embedded. Two of the selections—the “Winterreise” and the Vivaldi—were, in fact, released at the end of 2011, but they reached my desk too late to make last year’s list.